I am having a problem getting a bulge around the middle of my cakes. I'm not sure it's the icing or how I'm icing the cakes. When I put my fondant on, since the icing is bulging it also makes my fondant bulge. HELP!!

It's our filling so to speak...

Are you using a dam when you fill your cakes?

I would recommend using a dam of very stiff buttercream to keep you filling from bulging out in the middle

pipe a small dam around the top of your cake that you are about to fill, then add your filling as usual and top with top layer.

Now crumb coat cake as usual and cover with fondant

The dam will help to keep your filling from bulgin out under the weight of the cake, crumb coat and fondant.

HTH

You will hear all sorts of different things that work for people.... some people like one way and others, another way.

I like refrigerating everything. I crumb coat, and then refrigerate firm....then ice...and refrigerate firm (sometimes crumb coat the day before or something). Then fondant while the icing is firm. If you do it this way, the weight and pressure of applying the fondant will not push your layers down, causing the filling to bulge.

Once in awhile I still get a small mark where I can see where the filling is, but in general it works just fine for me.

Also make sure when you fill the cake, you press it down very firmly so that it won't have to settle too much after the crumb coat.